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Wylie's Jaden Speegle (3) runs back a Coyote kickoff to score Wylie's first touchdown of the night early in the first quarter at Bulldog Stadium. The Bulldogs scored 22 first-half points but lost 64-22. Gary Rhodes/Special to the Reporter-News

Wichita Falls wide receiver Isiah Cherry (10) spins in the air as he dodges a tackle from a Wylie defender Friday at Bulldog Stadium. Cherry scored on a first-half TD run and WF outscored the Bulldogs 64-22. Gary Rhodes/Special to the Reporter-News

Alexis Sanchez reacts with surprise and happiness when she was announced as 2018 homecoming queen during halftime of Friday's game with Wichita Falls High. Her father, Alejandro, was her escort. Sanchez is a senior. Gary Rhodes/Special to the Reporter-News

Wylie quarterback Harrison Atwood (19) throws a pass while on the move Friday during a district game against the Wichita Falls High School Coyotes at Bulldog Stadium. WF won, 64-22. Gary Rhodes/Special to the Reporter-News

Wylie's Bailey Hicks (27) dodges a tackle by Wichita Falls High School's Baylen Faris and attempts to ward off defensive back Uriel Vigil during their game Oct. 19 at Bulldog Stadium. WFHS won, 64-22. Gary Rhodes/Special to the Reporter-News

Wichita Falls High 64, Wylie 22

Friday's homecoming game couldn't have gotten off to a worse start for the Wylie football team against Wichita Falls High, and it didn't get much better from there as the festivities were spoiled at Bulldog Stadium.

The Bulldogs (0-7 overall, 0-2 district) went three-and-out to start the game and had to punt. The punter came out late and a rushed snap went over his head and out of the back of the end zone for a safety, giving WFHS the 2-0 lead.

“We talked about it last week, we’re just not strong enough to spot people,” Wylie coach Hugh Sandifer said. “We’ve got to play error-free football and penalty free. We’ve almost got to be perfect … once it starts that spiral it starts to get away from us. They’ve got some weapons and scored a lot of points.”

Anthony Vargas then threw a touchdown pass on the five ensuing drives for the Coyotes (3-4, 1-1). The WFHS quarterback threw for a career-high yards and set a school record for touchdown passes.

Between the third and fourth touchdowns, Jaden Speegle returned a kickoff 85 yards to get Wylie on the board, making it 23-8. A bad snap on a WFHS punt attempt was recovered by Gus Davis and set up a 5-yard pass from Jaxon Hansen to Nathan Moore.

After an Isiah Cherry 13-yard run for the Coyotes, Harrison Atwood led Wylie on a 55-yard scoring drive in just over a minute. Atwood capped the drive with a 32-yard pass to Bailey Hicks to make it a 44-22 game at the break.

“We got a little momentum, I thought, before the half,” Sandifer said. “Then we came out, they go score the first series and we fumble the kickoff so they score two touchdowns before we take a snap. You can point to things like that the whole game.”

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Wylie quarterback Harrison Atwood (19) throws a pass while on the move Friday during a district game against the Wichita Falls High School Coyotes at Bulldog Stadium. WF won, 64-22.(Photo: Gary Rhodes/Special to the Reporter-News)

The Coyotes scored three times in the third quarter, two passing and one rushing, to put the game away before a scoreless fourth quarter.

With three games left, the Bulldogs aren't packing it in for the 2018 season. They know each time out they are facing teams with a little more size and speed than them and that means less room for errors.

“We continually are working every day, coaches and players,” Sandifer said. “We feel like we have a good plan and then we get out here and it’s tough. We’re playing good people, I don’t want to take anything away from our opponents, but it seems like we’re on our heels a little bit until we see what they do. Generally, what they’ve done is taken the lead and we’re playing from behind.”

Turning point: It was early, but a bad snap on a punt gave a Wichita Falls High team that didn't need any help two easy points. With a short field off the free kick, the Coyotes scored to make it 9-0 and it was off to the races.

Player of the game: Anthony Vargas, QB, WFHS — It was pitch and catch all night for Vargas, who at one point threw a touchdown pass on five straight drives. Vargas finished the night with more than 500 yards and eight touchdowns passing.

Key stat: WFHS threw for a whopping 541 yards and did it in three fewer pass attempts than Wylie. Not only did Vargas throw for 541 yards, Johnson had 225 yards and three TDs receiving while Byrd picked up 163 yards and four scores through the air. The fifth touchdown pass went to Tre McKenzie.

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Wylie's Bailey Hicks (27) dodges a tackle by Wichita Falls High School's Baylen Faris and attempts to ward off defensive back Uriel Vigil during their game Friday at Bulldog Stadium. WFHS won, 64-22.(Photo: Gary Rhodes/Special to the Reporter-News)

Wylie Sandifer said: "We start the game on offense, try to switch some things up and give them a safety on a kicking game breakdown and got them rolling. They threw the deep ball on us and continually threw it over us. We had a hard time pressuring their quarterback and keeping up with their receivers."

WFHS coach Grant Freeman said: "Our kids played their tails off. They were prepared, they were ready and they were up for a challenge. We felt like we left a lot of stuff on the field at Canyon and we wanted to make sure that we came here and didn't leave anything on the field."

What this means: The Bulldogs are in trouble of missing the playoffs for the first time in nearly 2½ decades. With three games left, Wylie will need to win at least two and probably get some help to make the postseason.

Up next: The Bulldogs hit the road for back-to-back games starting with a trip to Amarillo to face Canyon Randall. The Raiders are coming off a 31-8 victory against Plainview.

“We’ve just got to get ready for Canyon Randall, they’re good,” Sandifer said. “They beat this team, wore (WFHS) out last week. We’ve just got to pick our head up and go back to work … nobody’s going to quit, nobody’s talking about that.”

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Wylie's Jaden Speegle (3) runs back a Coyote kickoff to score Wylie's first touchdown of the night early in the first quarter at Bulldog Stadium. The Bulldogs scored 22 first-half points but lost 64-22.(Photo: Gary Rhodes/Special to the Reporter-News)